Donations are needed after more than a dozen people were displaced following a roaring fire in Meriden on Sunday.

Firefighters said they faced heavy flames while battling the fire that broke out on Wilcox Avenue around 5 p.m. As the fire kept building, crews later had to pull back. Then reinforcements arrived in the city from Middletown, Southington and Berlin.

Thankfully firefighters said all 15 people who lived in the building made it out safely, however, they are in need.

“We lost everything,” one resident, Ivonne Ramirez, said.

Meriden police, Council of Neighborhoods and the Meriden Fire Department are planning a new clothing and toy drive for the two families affected on Saturday. 

The drive will take place at the Meriden Green and Pratt Street, across from the Pratt Street Fire House, on March 24 between 9 a.m. and noon. 

Here's a list of what they need:

• 4T shirts, size 5T pants, 8-9 shoe size for a 3-year-old boy
• Small shirts, size 6 pants, 12 or 1 shoe size for a 6-year-old boy
• Shirt and pants size 5T-6, 9 shoe size for a 2-year-old boy
• Shirt size XL, pants size 16, 8.5 shoe size for a 16-year-old girl.
• Shirt size large, pant size 11-12, shoe size 8-8.5 for an adult woman.

The group is also collecting monetary donations and gift cards. 

The Connecticut state judicial branch’s computer system was down after a cyberattack, but is back up and partially functioning, an official said. 

The judicial branch said the system was infected with ransomware Friday morning. This is the second ransomware cyberattack against Connecticut state agencies in two weeks.

According to an official, the protective order registry was impacted. Court clerks are faxing those orders to law enforcement and these orders will be entered manually over the weekend. 

After the ransomware was detected, the information technology division immediately took steps to contain the infection.

They said no private information was released, no data was breached and no files have been lost.

The judicial branch is working with its security vendor to get an updated security file that they said would eradicate the infection.

IT staff will work through the weekend, according to judicial staff. 

The last step will be to bring the systems back online. 

Dockets are being prepared for Monday.

In late February, 160 machines across 12 agencies were infected with the WannaCry virus. 

With two damaging nor’easters within the last two weeks, NBC Connecticut meteorologists are keeping a close eye on a third coastal storm that looks to flirt with New England by Monday night.

There is still a lot of uncertainty with the track of this storm, but enough guidance to continue to monitor the potential for a strong nor’easter.

The European Ensemble forecast below shows the wide spread of possible outcomes for the storm's location late Monday into Tuesday.

A reasonable worst-case scenario would be a storm similar to the one on Wednesday with more of a heavy wet snow given the warm temperature gradient. Another outcome could be fringe effects, where the storm comes close enough to bring some snow. A total miss is still possible as well.

NBC Connecticut will continue to monitor the forecast. Check back for updates. 

The new law was created to satisfy both gun rights advocates and gun control advocates in the wake of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that killed 17 people. The NRA still filed a lawsuit hours after Florida Governor Rick Scott signed it, claiming it violates the Second and 14th Amendments.

A Norwalk man faces a murder charge in the death of a 26-year-old man in July.

Police said 21-year-old Jermaine Scott is accused of murder in the death of Johnny Lezeau. On July 20, 2017, Lezeau was found on Ely Avenue suffering life-threatening injuries. He was pronounced dead at Norwalk Hospital.

Scott was arrested Friday and is being held on a $1 million bond.

According to police, the warrant has been sealed and no other details were immediately available.

The Connecticut House is scheduled to consider Andrew McDonald for Chief Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court on Monday.

In the days leading up to Monday the pressure has ramped up from those who support him, with the group, True Justice, launching a television ad campaign aimed at urging people to call their state senators in support.

The group is funded by backers of McDonald, who would become the country’s first openly gay Chief Justice.

McDonald met for three hours Thursday with Rep. Themis Klarides and Sen. Len Fasano, the top two Republicans in the Connecticut General Assembly. They went over McDonald’s decisions and writings since he joined the Connecticut Supreme Court in 2012 as an Associate Justice. Both Fasano and Klarides knew McDonald from his days as a state senator representing Stamford, and as Gov. Dannel Malloy’s legal adviser.

“It’s unfortunate. This is not a political issue. It’s a substantive issue,” said Sen. Fasano, (R – North Haven), of the ad that aligned Republicans in Connecticut with President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence with the words, “Stop the Hate,” emblazoned in all capital letters across the screen.

When asked whether he planned on voting for McDonald, Fasano said, “I have not firmly made up my mind but the questions that I have leans me in a no direction. But it’s only a lean. I still need to understand this more.”

According to three sources with knowledge of the meeting McDonald held with Klarides and Fasano, the Associate Justice told the Republican leaders that he did not feel his sexual orientation would factor into their specific opposition to his ascension to Chief Justice. However, the sources also told NBC Connecticut that McDonald’s comments regarding Fasano and Klarides were not widespread feelings about the House and Senate GOP caucuses, acknowledging that some members would not be comfortable with an openly gay chief justice.

Democrats in the House are optimistic about McDonald’s prospects in that chamber, with Rep. William Tong, who chairs the Judiciary Committee that did not give McDonald’s nomination a favorable report, saying, “I think the House has a full set of information to act and on and Justice McDonald will have the support of the House on Monday.”

Sen. Martin Looney, (D – New Haven), the top Democrat in the Senate where McDonald’s confirmation could be denied, fired directly at Sen. Fasano, accusing him of playing politics with the appointment.

Looney wrote in a statement, “(Fasano) is desperately trying to deflect attention from the fact that he and the Senate Republicans are marching in lockstep with Donald Trump, Mike Pence, and Mitch McConnell, and are preparing to block the confirmation of a historic and highly qualified nominee.”

Haddam town officials set up a disaster relief center Friday as over forty percent of the town's Eversource customer were still without power two nights after a nor'easter pummeled the state.

First Selectwoman Lizz Milardo told NBC Connecticut warm showers, beds, and place to recharge were available at the Haddam Killingsworth Middle School overnight.

Milardo and her staff grappled with power outages at home as well. She has received multiple alerts from Eversource saying her electricity would be restored, but the power has yet to come back on. "The last update I got was 2 a.m. this morning and I still don't have power," Milardo said.

Haddam took a heavy beating in this week's nor'easter, which brought down trees and power lines throughout the town. Eversource crews were hard at work repairing damage, but the effort may take days.

Eversource announced Friday they may need until Sunday night until 11 p.m. to restore power to the vast majority of customers.

Get more details on power restoration efforts here.

The company is focused on bringing the highest number of people back online as quickly as they can. Milardo said she understands the importance of efficiency, but added it can be difficult to prioritize.

"When you have 40 roads that you were looking at that are blocked, and Eversource calls you at 11 a.m. and says give me your top five... how do you decide what those top five are?" Milardo said. "There's live wires in some situations on more than five roads,” she added.

Haddam resident Paul Rogozinski has had enough of power outages to invest in a generator. He said the generator supplies enough energy to keep things going, but added, "I don't need another night."

A man is in critical condition after Hartford police say he was shot during a meeting arranged to sell a cell phone Friday night.

Police said the victim was found in the area of Boothbay Street at Lebanon Street suffering a gunshot wound.

According to police, the victim had come to Boothbay Street to sell a cell phone. The suspect took the phone and shot the victim in the face.

The victim was taken to Saint Francis Hospital where he is listed in critical but stable condition.

Hartford police continue to investigate.

The Hartford Police Department parking lot is available as a safe spot to meet for transactions arranged online.

Connecticut’s shoreline was hit hard by outages not once, but twice in a week, and thousands of homes and businesses remain without power days after a second nor’easter.

The storm Wednesday dumped more than two feet of heavy, wet snow in parts of Connecticut and brought down trees and power lines. This was the second nor’easter to hit in less than a week.

A statement from Eversource says the storm broke hundreds of poles and took down thousands of feet of power lines.

Eversource, which supplies power to more than 1.2 million customers, was reporting 9,481 without power as of 6 p.m. Saturday. United Illuminating, which provides power to more than 330,000 customers, reported 1,535 customers out. 

Eversource has released town-by-town power restoration estimates. The company hopes to have power restored to all its customers by 11 p.m. Sunday. The company estimates that it has restored power to 232,000 since the storm began Wednesday.

In Killingworth, more than 40 percent of the town was still in the dark Saturday morning.

The number of outages went up overnight with three-quarters of the town in the dark. Those spikes can sometimes happen as crews are working to remove and replace bad lines.

Early Sunday morning there were more than 40 tree-trimming trucks sitting in a staging area at the Park and Ride in Madison waiting to deployed across the shoreline. As those got set for another long day, people were waking up to another morning without power.

“On the second day, it settled in. You’re getting, ‘OK, what’s going on?” And then when you drive around town and you don’t see any real real big trees down. You see little branches and maybe a couple of wires, you’re wondering, ‘OK what gives?’” said Kilingworth resident Jeff Gallagher.

Throughout this recovery period, Eversource has pointed out that in some cases the problems aren’t visible.

For instance, a substation that services Killingworth had issues during the storm.

Anyone whose power is out should report it to the utility company.

If you are an Eversource customer, you can report it online here or call 800-286-2000. 

United Illuminating customers can report an outage using UI’s automated phone system at 800-722-5584. To report an outage via mobile, text “OUT” to 839-884 (TEXT-UI), or visit Outage Central at uinet.com.

Hartford police have identified a suspect accused of making a threat against the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

Police said Friday the threat did not appear to be valid, and on Saturday police announced that they had identified the suspect, who is a former Connecticut resident no longer in this part of the country. The person was not publicly named.

The event, which draws tens of thousands of people to the city, went ahead as scheduled with security in place.

Hartford police said threats toward the St. Patrick’s Day parade, school shootings and other acts of terrorism were posted on several social media pages, including a local TV station, and detectives and crime analysts in the command center immediately began to vet the threat.

The investigation revealed several indications that the account used was a fraud or spoof, according to police.

They met with the person whose account was spoofed and determined the account had been created to annoy and harass the victim whose name the account was created in.

Authorities are asking people to reach out to police directly to investigate rather than repost on social media.

Adult film star Stormy Daniels filed a civil action against President Donald Trump this week.

In it, she wants a California court to declare that the nondisclosure agreement between them is not valid because Trump, under the alleged pseudonym of “DD,” never actually signed it, NBC News reported. The action comes in response to a restraining order, sought and obtained in late February, that precludes Daniels from violating the terms of the original agreement.

According to the complaint filed Tuesday, Daniels had an intimate relationship with Trump between 2006 and 2007. Years later, during Trump's presidential campaign, she says he and his attorney Michael Cohen "aggressively sought to silence" Daniels, who says she was pressured into signing a nondisclosure agreement and that she was paid $130,000 for her silence.

The litigation between Daniels, “DD” (allegedly Trump’s nom de plume), the president's personal attorney Michael Cohen, and an entity known as “EC” has just begun, but it is already knotted in procedural complexities, according to a legal analysis by NBC News.

As the news of the firing of UConn head men’s basketball coach Kevin Ollie spread Saturday, Twitter was aflame with a range of reactions.

"Kevin Ollie" was even trending in the New Haven area, with thousands of tweets on the subject.

Ollie was fired by the university amid an ongoing NCAA investigation into the men’s basketball program. UConn said the firing was disciplinary but did not provide details. Ollie was in the second year of a five-year $17.9-million contract that can be voided for "just cause," the Associated Press reports.

Some have questioned Ollie’s position in recent years. Ollie won the NCAA championship in 2014 after taking over from Jim Calhoun, but the team has struggled in recent seasons.

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The “Saturday Night Live” cold open mocked recent political and pop culture moments, with Kate McKinnon reprising her impression of special counsel Robert Mueller and Cecily Strong as the betrothed-then-dumped "Bachelor" cast-off Becca K.

In a spoof of Monday's night's cringe-worthy finale of "The Bachelor," McKinnon’s Mueller (73, FBI special counsel) visited Strong's Becca K. (27, publicist) to deliver some bad news: He could not commit to a Trump collusion indictment.

“The reality is that I don’t think I can give you everything that you want right now,” McKinnon’s Mueller said. "The more time that goes by the more I keep thinking about obstruction."

“Collusion is literally the only thing I’ve been looking forward to for the past year,” Strong’s Becca K. said. “I was ready, Bob. I was ready to do the damn thing.”

The scene was based on the real-life, televised breakup between "bachelor" Arie Luyendyk Jr. and winner Becca Kufrin. After proposing to Kufrin in a pre-taped episode, Luyendyk later dumped her in front of ABC cameras to return to runner-up Lauren Burnham. The footage was then aired on "The Bachelor" finale episode before Luyendyk proposed to Burnham in front of a live studio audience — and plenty of home viewers.

Just as Luyendyk overstayed his welcome while breaking it off with Kufrin, McKinnon's Mueller hung around the apartment while Strong's Becca K. cried, hid from the cameras and expressed confusion and disappointment with the reality she was facing: that Trump would be president for at least two more years, but possibly seven more.

Strong's Becca K. wondered if Trump's alleged pre-White House affair with Stormy Daniels could even have any effect on Mueller's decision. McKinnon’s Mueller admitted “that was fun,” but the revelations were not enough for an indictment.

“Saturday Night Live” was hosted by Sterling K. Brown, the break-out “This Is Us” star and who also has a small role in the box-office smash movie “Black Panther.”

On Weekend Update with Michael Che and Colin Jost, Alex Moffat’s Eric Trump and Mikey Day’s Donald Trump Jr. made an appearance to discuss the success of the Trump name across the world and debunk the rumored chaos inside the White House.

“That’s what’s so ridiculous about the claims of this adult film star," Moffat's Eric Trump said about his father's alleged affair with Daniels. "She and my father never had a relationship. They just wrestled in bed!”

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Musical guest James Bay performed “Pink Lemonade” and “Wild Love.”

NBC Connecticut Meteorologists have issued a First Alert in front of another Nor'easter that will impact the state on Tuesday. 

Winter Storm Watches have been posted for interior New London county and all of Windham county. 

Snow will overspread the state late Monday night and continue through the Tuesday morning commute before tapering off Tuesday evening.

We're forecasting accumulations of over 6 inches in parts of the state. 

Right now it appears the highest totals will be in eastern CT away from the water where 6 to 9 inches of snow could accumulate. 

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This will once again be a heavy wet snow for much of Connecticut which could result in more power issues throughout the state.

In addition to snowfall the storm will also bring gusty winds with wind gusts of 40 mph possible.

A driver faces DUI charges after police say a pickup crashed into a house in Milford Saturday.

Police said the truck crashed into a home at Bayshore Drive and Orland Street around 5:30 p.m. No one was hurt, but the driver faces DUI charges.

The suspect was not publicly identified.

More information was not immediately available.

Eversource is warning customers to be on the lookout for scammers posing as power company employees.

The company said they’ve received reports that scammers are approaching customers in outage areas and demanding payment to restore power. Eversource stresses that their crews are working to restore power and would never ask for additional payment from customers.

The scammers have been reported in Westport and Norwalk.

Anyone with questions or concerns can contact Eversouce at 800-286-2000 or call the local police department.

After the New York Times reported that President Donald Trump was unhappy with his legal team in the Russia probe and was seeking outside help, Trump attacked the publication on Twitter and defended his three lawyers.

"The Failing New York Times purposely wrote a false story stating that I am unhappy with my legal team on the Russia case and am going to add another lawyer to help out. Wrong," Trump wrote Sunday morning. "I am VERY happy with my lawyers, John Dowd, Ty Cobb and Jay Sekulow. They are doing a great job and..... ...have shown conclusively that there was no Collusion with Russia..just excuse for losing. The only Collusion was that done by the DNC, the Democrats and Crooked Hillary. The writer of the story, Maggie Haberman, a Hillary flunky, knows nothing about me and is not given access."

The president was responding to a Saturday report in the Times that claimed, citing four unnamed sources, that Trump met with Emmet T. Flood in the Oval Office this past week to talk about him joining the White House to help deal with the special counsel Robert Mueller's probe. Flood is a veteran Washington lawyer who represented Bill Clinton during his impeachment process.

The White House did not respond to the Times' request for comment, and Flood declined to comment for the story.

NBC has not independently verified the Times' report.

Haberman defended her reporting on Twitter, writing, "Several people close to Trump confirmed our story. Trump also met with Emmet Flood in the Oval last week for purpose of potentially hiring him. Our story was confirmed by other outlets."

She added that Trump's tweets "raises possibility Flood has turned him down."

Haberman concluded: "lol."

It may have looked no different from the past few years' gatherings — with its rows of suited men and perfectly draped red curtains — but this year's National People's Congress delivered one of the most significant shifts in Chinese politics this century.

After casting his own ballot, a visibly relaxed Xi Jinping looked on as the annual meeting of China's rubber-stamp parliament voted to abolish a two-term limit on the presidency, effectively paving the way for the 64-year old leader to enjoy unchecked rule for life, NBC News reported. 

The historic vote was a formality and its result unequivocal: 99.8 percent of the 3,000 delegates voted in favor of amending the constitution. Only two delegates voted against and three abstained.

That China is officially stepping into a new era of totalitarianism came as a shock to the 1.4 billion people whose fates are now irrevocably tied to one man. An early sign of public discomfort showed in the hours after the news was announced last month when Baidu, China's version of Google, showed a spike in searches for the term "emigration." Then censors swooped in. The following day, the term was no longer available to search; also restricted were "tenure," "constitution," and several others deemed too sensitive or too critical.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday that President Donald Trump using vulgar language Saturday at a Pennsylvania event is a "campaign rally issue."

Earlier on Saturday night, Trump hit the campaign trail for Republican House candidate Rick Saccone and spoke at a rally in Moon, Pennsylvania. In the long, apparently off-the-cuff address, the president widely attacked the media while telling a crowd of supporters to "be very nice" to Kim.

The president also derided Democratic lawmakers, calling Rep. Maxine Waters "a very low I.Q. individual" and referred to a member of the press using an expletive, NBC News reported.

"He's using those vulgarities in the context of a campaign rally," Mnuchin said on "Meet the Press." "And obviously there were a lot of funny moments on that rally. ... You know he likes to put names on people," Mnuchin added. "He did that through the entire presidential election, including all the Republicans that he beat. So these are campaign rally issues."

One person was seriously injured in a crash on Route 8 in Waterbury Sunday.

The crash happened on Route 8 southbound near exit 36 around 3 a.m. According to Connecticut State Police, the driver of a Ford Explorer lost control near exit 36, hitting the guardrail on the right shoulder and causing the vehicle to roll over.

A Subaru Impreza then crashed into the Explorer. A passenger in the Impreza suffered serious injuries and was taken to Waterbury Hospital. The Subaru’s driver and the occupants f the explorer suffered minor injuries.

Both cars were significantly damaged and had to be towed.

The crash remains under investigation. Anyone who witnessed the crash should contact Connecticut State Police Troop A with information.

Route 8 was closed in the area for investigation but has since reopened.